Notre Dame Still Has A Number Of Difficult Roster Decisions To Make
Senior linebacker Shayne Simon announced yesterday that he would enter the transfer portal and leave the program, and he'll do so with a degree in hand. Simon is one of several players that have announced their intention to leave for one reason or another, but Notre Dame and its players still have A LOT of roster decisions to make.
A high number of 5th-year players combines with the additional seasons due to the Covid-19 eligibility changes to put Notre Dame currently at 95 players with an opportunity to return next season, including the 21 signees the Irish landed this week. Notre Dame's staff is also trying to convince a number of players to return and not leave for the NFL.
Notre Dame must drop 10 players from the list below, and that number will likely grow as the staff looks to sign more recruits in February, and with the staff needing to look for a few grad transfers to fill holes on the current roster.
A lot of roster shrinking is needed, and that means there are going to be some very, very tough decisions to make. It will be one of the early challenges for head coach Marcus Freeman. Let's look at Notre Dame's current roster situation heading into the bowl game.
NO MORE ELIGIBILITY REMAINING
Jack Coan, QB
Cain Madden, OL
Kurt Hinish, DT
Jonathan Doerer, PK
LEAVING (NFL or Transfers)
Kyren Williams, RB (NFL)
Kyle Hamilton, S (NFL)
Shayne Simon, LB (Transfer)
Litchfield Ajavon, S (Transfer)
Jay Bramblett, P (Transfer)
That is not a high number of players, and that shouldn't be overly surprising considering the fact Notre Dame still has a game left to play. More players will have to make NFL decisions, more players will transfer and there are some players the staff will have to make the tough decision to not bring back.
NFL DECISIONS
Notre Dame has already lost Williams and Hamilton, but it has more players that must make NFL decisions. According to my sources all of these seniors and juniors have been asked back.
Kevin Austin, WR
Jarrett Patterson, OL
Isaiah Foskey, DE
Jayson Ademilola, DT
Cam Hart, CB
Notre Dame wants all five of these players to return. I would assume Hart returns (he needs to) and the latest intel I've received is that Ademilola is poised to return. Foskey, Patterson and Austin are all question marks at this point.
Prediction: Notre Dame's staff will work hard to bring all five back, but based on what we've seen in the past there will be at least one of these five that choose to leave. I'm going to predict four of these five players return, although I'm not ready to say which one will leave. I'm very tempted to say only three return, but we'll see how the final game plays out.
6TH-YEAR DECISIONS
There are five players that have a 6th-season of eligibility remaining thanks to the extra year from the 2020 Covid season, and four of them were starters while another was a key rotation player at a position that is a bit of a question mark heading into the offseason.
Avery Davis, WR
Joshua Lugg, OL
Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa, DE
Drew White, LB
Isaiah Pryor, Rover
Last week Tagovailoa-Amosa announced he was preparing to play his last game, and then said .... maybe. Sources have told IB that he's considering a return for his 6th season, assuming he could be asked back.
Lugg has stated he is interested in returning for a 6th season.
Davis was set to depart after this season but I would imagine his knee injury has caused him to at least rethink things a bit. White is the third team captain (MTA, Davis) that has a 6th-year decision to make, as does Pryor.
Notre Dame's staff also has to decide which of these players, if any, it will ask back. Of course the staff would love to have them all back, but with numbers being very tight the staff is unlikely to be able to have room for all of them to return. Lugg, for example, is at a position that has 18 players with eligibility remaining, which makes bringing him back very challenging, no matter how much the staff would want him back.
Prediction: Notre Dame will bring back no more than two 6th-year seniors, and there's an outside chance none return.
5TH-YEAR DECISIONS
There are 5th-year players that have to decide if they want to come back, and the staff must decide if they want them back, or have room to bring them back.
C'Bo Flemister, RB
It is unlikely that Flemister returns due to the emergence of younger players and the arrival of Jadarian Price. Five scholarship running backs would be ideal, but with Flemister likely to be at best the third-string running back next season it will be tough to make that decision.
Braden Lenzy, WR
Joe Wilkins Jr., WR
With the staff falling so short with the 2022 recruiting class they are in position where they will need to push HARD to bring back at least two of these players, with Austin (see above) coming back being of the utmost importance. We saw Lenzy start to break out later in the season, so bringing him back seems like a must. Wilkins is in an interest situation because he might have to do a graduate transfer somewhere else in order to open up a spot for a younger receiver (2022 signee in February, transfer).
George Takacs, TE
Takacs is a talented player and a very well-liked and well-respected player, but if he returns the Irish would have seven tight ends returning to the roster. Unless at least one, maybe two, younger players transfer it seems unlikely that Notre Dame will have staff to bring back Takacs.
John Dirksen, OL
I already discussed veterans Patterson and Lugg. Dirksen is a player with some ability, but the odds are he's going to get stuck in a numbers game. With him not being a starter the odds are the staff decides to go with younger players battling it out for the starting guard jobs next season.
Justin Ademilola, DE
I already discussed Tagovailoa-Amosa, Jayson Ademilola and Foskey. Justin Ademilola is one graduate player that will return next season no matter what decisions are made by the other veteran linemen.
Bo Bauer, LB
Paul Moala, Rover
It would make sense for Bauer to want to return and battle for the starting Mike job, and he'll have a shot at being a captain. Notre Dame could choose to not bring him back, but that would be a surprise and it would leave the linebacker depth chart with a severe lack of experience. It would still be very, very talented, but quite inexperienced.
Moala's injury history makes it very, very difficult to justify bringing him back. He has basically missed almost the entire last two seasons.
TaRiq Bracy, CB
Bracy is an intriguing player in that he's been solid for Notre Dame the last few seasons, but he has never really taken his game to a higher level. With a number of talented, younger and bigger players pushing for action it will be quite difficult for the staff to bring Bracy back and have 10 cornerbacks on the roster.
Should there be departures from the position (NFL, transfers, position changes) perhaps the staff could free up a spot for Bracy, but that will be a challenge.
DJ Brown, S
Houston Griffith, S
Neither Brown nor Griffith played so well that you say to yourself, "Well of course you have to bring them back." I expect at least one, if not both to return for a number of reasons. One, they are veteran players and leaders. Two, they were both solid players this season and seeing how they perform in year two of Freeman's defense would be intriguing. Three, there is not much certainty behind them.
If you don't bring back these veterans then you're going into the 2022 season with a pair of players (Ramon Henderson, Xavier Watts) who didn't even play safety for most of the 2021 season poised to start. It would be very, very intriguing to give those two younger players a shot to earn starting jobs, and they will get that even if Brown and Griffith return. But if Notre Dame doesn't bring back the veterans it would mean the depth chart behind those talented young players is shaky at best.
It was recently announced that long snapper Michael Vinson would go on scholarship, which means he's set to return for 2022.
Prediction: Seven of the 11 players discussed above will decide to take a graduate transfer to another school or will not be asked back.
TRANSFERS/INJURIES
If my prediction is correct that is 11 players that will depart the program, which gets Notre Dame down to 84. That means there is room for just one player to be added in February (high school signees) or any new incoming transfers.
The reality, however, is that every program has transfers, either by choice or players are encouraged to play somewhere else to complete their eligibility. Notre Dame will be no different. You'll see players from the current roster decide to leave the program, or they'll be told that while they are welcome to return, they won't be getting playing time next season.
There are also players who could go on medical scholarship, which ends their playing career and opens up a scholarship.
As more of those decisions are made, and announced, you'll see spots open up to either bring back a 6th or 5th-year player, and it will open up spots for newcomers. I would expect at least three to four players that are buried on the depth chart or are struggling with injuries to decide to leave the program (transfers) or to stop playing (medical hardship).
Here is a look at the roster as it stands right now. Listed below is every scholarship player that has eligibility remaining in 2022. (* refers to also having an additional season due to Covid-19).
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
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